Many multicarrier communication systems, including orthogonal frequency divisional multiplexed (OFDM) communication systems, include cyclic prefixes within transmitted symbols to help reduce the effects of inter-symbol interference. A cyclic prefix may be redundant with another portion of the symbol (generally an end portion) and is removed before subsequent digital signal processing.
Some multicarrier communication systems allow the use of cyclic prefixes of different lengths. This makes detecting the cyclic prefix difficult, but mandatory. Thus there are general needs for multicarrier receivers and methods that detect a cyclic prefix of an unknown length.